We awoke to another "heat advisory" day -- this one will get to a heat index of 113, the hottest day in Charleston this year -- and, of course, we picked it to be our touring day.
Dinner the previous evening was light -- popcorn, hummus and wine while we watched the movie -- hence, we both woke up hungry and not having much of anything but yogurt and peanut butter on board for breakfast, we opted to walk to a local restaurant for a big breakfast.
We then grabbed the marina's courtesy shuttle to King Street, the main commercial street in Charleston's downtown. We asked him to drop us off near an optometrist -- I managed to pop one of the lenses out of my glasses while I was working on the electric hatch and it needed to be reseated. We then "dropped into" the adjacent hat store -- we both had been thinking about buying bigger hats to protect ourselves from the sun we thought we'd see what they had -- we both ended up with new hats :-)
As we left the hat store, we heard music in a park across the street -- it was hosting a Saturday morning farmer's market and we decided to check it out. We browsed through an assortment of fresh produce stands, including one that was advertising "raccoon tenderloins" -- they didn't really have them, it was a "come on" to get people "in the door". We also stopped to watch some break dancers who were showing off their chops (and passing the hat) -- their boom box was the music that drew us into the park in the first place.
The sun was out, there wasn't a cloud in the sky or a breeze in the air -- it was blazing hot. Sue had picked out some sights she wanted to see: namely a Cathedral the Exchange building and the Street Market (Sue had never been to Charleston before). Once we left the park, we mapped out a circuit to visit these places and then carefully choosing the shadier sides of the street, made our way to the first stop, the Cathedral.
Our first destination, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, wasn't far from the college. Unlike most Cathedrals we have been in, the interior was mostly painted white and the stained glass windows seem to let in plenty of light, making the overall space seem bright and cheery (rather than the more typical somber an gloomy).
Our next stop, the Charleston Exchange, is a building that dates from the earliest days of Charleston, one of just three walled cities ever to exist in North America (the wall is long gone; St. Augustine and Quebec were the others). Constructed by the British Crown as a storehouse for goods coming in/going out of the colony, the basement storage rooms were used as a prison by the Brits when they occupied Charleston during the Revolutionary war. It became known as "the dungeon" because of its dirty, dank and overcrowded conditions causing many people to die during their imprisonment. Fortunately, the British were ousted during the war, limiting the total number of prisoners that experienced these inhuman conditions to a few hundred, including 4 signers of the Declaration of Independence.
By the time we got to our last stop, the Street Market, we were dragging from the heat. The market is a 5 or so block pedestrian mall lined with food, clothing and tchotchke shops. Part of is outside and part of it is inside (with A/C). Needles to say, we spent most of our time "not buying stuff" in the air conditioned part of the market.
Our original plan was to end our tour by having a nice dinner in town, but it was still early, neither one of us felt very hungry and the heat was oppressive, so we opted instead to walk back to our air conditioned sanctuary on the boat, leaving open what to do for the evening.
A couple of hours later, fully recovered from the heat, we decided to substitute going to a movie for eating out. We had the courtesy van drop us off at a local theater so we could see "The 100 Step Journey (Helen Mirren)" -- we both loved it.
Dinner the previous evening was light -- popcorn, hummus and wine while we watched the movie -- hence, we both woke up hungry and not having much of anything but yogurt and peanut butter on board for breakfast, we opted to walk to a local restaurant for a big breakfast.
We then grabbed the marina's courtesy shuttle to King Street, the main commercial street in Charleston's downtown. We asked him to drop us off near an optometrist -- I managed to pop one of the lenses out of my glasses while I was working on the electric hatch and it needed to be reseated. We then "dropped into" the adjacent hat store -- we both had been thinking about buying bigger hats to protect ourselves from the sun we thought we'd see what they had -- we both ended up with new hats :-)
 |
| My new hat :-) |
[Picture of Sue's new hat is stuck on my bad computer]
As we left the hat store, we heard music in a park across the street -- it was hosting a Saturday morning farmer's market and we decided to check it out. We browsed through an assortment of fresh produce stands, including one that was advertising "raccoon tenderloins" -- they didn't really have them, it was a "come on" to get people "in the door". We also stopped to watch some break dancers who were showing off their chops (and passing the hat) -- their boom box was the music that drew us into the park in the first place.
 |
| Raccoon Tenderloin anyone? |
On the way we happened to pass by the College of Charleston -- they were hosting a "welcome weekend" for the incoming Freshman -- the street outside the campus was lined with booths of every size and shape advertising activities and clubs. Young people were milling about everywhere, making inquiries and signing up at the booths that struck their fancy -- it was fun being surrounded by wide-eyed kids getting their first taste of college. We also happened to pass the Alpha chapter house for my fraternity, which was founded at the College of Charleston in 1904 -- another reason to recall the excitement of my own college days.
[Pictures to come -- stuck on bad computer]
Our first destination, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, wasn't far from the college. Unlike most Cathedrals we have been in, the interior was mostly painted white and the stained glass windows seem to let in plenty of light, making the overall space seem bright and cheery (rather than the more typical somber an gloomy).
[Pictures to come -- stuck on bad computer]
Our next stop, the Charleston Exchange, is a building that dates from the earliest days of Charleston, one of just three walled cities ever to exist in North America (the wall is long gone; St. Augustine and Quebec were the others). Constructed by the British Crown as a storehouse for goods coming in/going out of the colony, the basement storage rooms were used as a prison by the Brits when they occupied Charleston during the Revolutionary war. It became known as "the dungeon" because of its dirty, dank and overcrowded conditions causing many people to die during their imprisonment. Fortunately, the British were ousted during the war, limiting the total number of prisoners that experienced these inhuman conditions to a few hundred, including 4 signers of the Declaration of Independence.
[Pictures to come -- stuck on bad computer]
By the time we got to our last stop, the Street Market, we were dragging from the heat. The market is a 5 or so block pedestrian mall lined with food, clothing and tchotchke shops. Part of is outside and part of it is inside (with A/C). Needles to say, we spent most of our time "not buying stuff" in the air conditioned part of the market.
[Pictures to come -- stuck on bad computer]
A couple of hours later, fully recovered from the heat, we decided to substitute going to a movie for eating out. We had the courtesy van drop us off at a local theater so we could see "The 100 Step Journey (Helen Mirren)" -- we both loved it.
No comments:
Post a Comment